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222 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INTELLIGENCE. thus extorted." Brand mentions, in his History of Newcastle, the prevail- ing custom of taking diseased children to Bedes' well, near that town, and dropping a crooked pin into the well, previously to the sufferer being dipped*^. This practice was retained as recently as the year 1740. In the Western Islands of Scotland it was likewise customary, according to Martin, for the sick to frequent certain wells reputed of medicinal virtue ; and, after some superstitious observances, to leave a small offering upon the stone which covered the well, such as a pin, needle, farthing, or the like. During a late visit to Market Rasen, Mr. Jarvis found some workmen engaged in deepening a mill-dam : they appeared to be at work about ten feet below the natural bed of the stream, and in the course of the operation threw out several ancient objects of various dates, an iron javelin head, two single-edged daggers, part of a bridle-bit, some common " Abbey pieces," and a farthing of Charles II. There were also found hundreds of brass pins, of various forms and sizes, some having ornamented heads, and mea- suring about three inches in length. One of the workmen on being ques- tioned said that there were " Spas"' in the neighbourhood ; thei'e are springs at Kingerby, near Rasen, to which healing properties are attributed, and these are familiarly termed " Spas :" Mr. Jarvis understood that there also large numbers of pins were found. It is remarkable that the country people, who scarcely appeared to notice the finding of so large a quantity of pins in the mill-dam, should have connected the fact Avith the existence of healing springs, an evidence, as it would seem, of some traditional recol- lection of the obsolete usage to which allusion has been made. An incised sepulchral memorial of considerable interest has been found near the east end of the south aisle, in the church of Sudbury, Suffolk. It is a slab of stone, measuring seven feet one inch, in length, by about two feet four inches at the head, and two feet at the foot. The portraiture of a lady is engraved upon it ; over her head appear portions of the design of a foliated canopy, and an inscription runs round the margin of the slab. Its existence had been entirely forgotten, it was found concealed by pews, and the discovery is due to the Rev. Hugh Maclean, having been made by him about two years since, during repairs and restorations in Sudbury church. We regret, however, to learn that this interesting memorial has been again concealed from view : we are indebted to Mr. Almack, of Long Melford, for a notice of the discovery, accompanied by an accurate representation, executed for Mr. Maclean, by Mr. A. F. Sprague, of Colchester. The in- scription, in " Longobardic" capitals, may be read as follows, — ^chi . gist. SEIEVE . DE SE (iNI QV'INTIn),LE . FEMME . ROBERT . DE . (sEINt) . QV'INTIN . KI TRESPASSA . EN . LAN . DE . GRACE. M . CCC (lE IOv) R . DE . SEINT . GREGORY. — closing with a commendation, probably, to the prayers 'of the faithful, but the last letters of the legend are almost effaced. This memo- rial presents a singular feature, very rarely, if ever, to be found in monu- mental portraitures in this country, namely that the head of the figure, as also the hands, which are united upon the bosom accorduig to customary History of Newcastle, vol. ii. ]>. 51.